Romcoms have, over the past few years, slowly but steadily been making a deserved comeback – and what could be a better genre to reunite Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves on screen, more than 25 years after their first shared appearance in Bram Stoker’s Dracula? It is unfortunate, then, that Victor Levi’s Destination Wedding ultimately turns out to be lacking both in romance and in comedy, relying instead solely on the draw of its two leading actors.

The plot follows two misanthropes at a wedding neither of them wants to attend: Frank (Reeves) is the estranged brother of the groom, Lindsey (Ryder) the ex-girlfriend. After a single-scene exposition for each of them, they meet at the airport, where Lindsey is swiftly established as a neurotic nag, while Frank unsympathetically asserts his dominance without any consideration. Naturally, they appear to hate each other at first sight. Forced to share the excruciating wedding rituals in the secluded venue, however, they predictably grow more comfortable in each other’s company and eventually act on their built-up attraction, still loath to admit it even exists.

While the setup promises a quirky and delightful romp, the two characters are drawn only in the broadest of strokes, never allowing them to become more than two-dimensional types: five minutes of screen time are enough to know everything there is to them, and the remaining runtime does not reveal any more depth. For a film that relies so heavily on dialogue, the clunky writing proves fatal.

Destination Wedding is nothing if not wasted potential, weighed down by a script which fails to produce any spark on screen, underlined by an incongruously cheesy score. Long-time fans of the actors may, of course, still enjoy this film, but there is little to look forward to beyond its casting.

RATING: 2/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves

DIRECTOR: Victor Levin

WRITER: Victor Levin

SYNOPSIS: The story of two miserable and unpleasant wedding guests, Lindsay and Frank, who develop a mutual affection despite themselves.